Moving into Meditation: A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners

Moving into Meditation is a practical and inspiring guide to integrating mindful yoga and embodied meditation, in a 12-week format.

One week at a time, Moving into Meditation lays out a plan for exploring body-based practices to get you more in tune with not only your limbs and core but your mind and heart. Cushman's curriculum integrates asana with mindfulness meditation to help practitioners turn "embodiment" from a concept into a tangible reality. Her insightful mixture of practices, yoga history, and Buddhist philosophy are made relevant to your present-day life. Personal stories from the "trenches" of decades of practice and teaching add color; Cushman's characteristic poetic and funny voice makes all readers feel that much more human. Cushman believes--and experience proves--that by becoming better attuned to and acquainted with the body, the physical forms become a vehicle for becoming more intimate with yourself and your world. From there, we can explore and embody the teachings of the Buddha for a more awakened life.

In recent years, "mindfulness" has blasted into mainstream culture much as yoga did two decades ago, making "mindful yoga" an appealing trend. But how does mindful yoga evolve from a buzz-worthy concept to a lived experience? How do yoga asanas and pranayama support and express the practice of meditation? How do you explore the teachings of the Buddha through the vehicle of your own living, breathing, human body?

As we quickly learn, the practices are inherently entwined. Experienced yoga and meditation teacher Anne Cushman answers all these questions and more in Moving into Meditation, teaching us to deepen our asana practices with mindfulness meditation and enhance our meditation practice with asana. With compassion, humor, and deep intelligence, Moving into Meditation guides us through integrating mind, body, and spirit practices for a wide-awake life.

ANNE CUSHMAN has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1983 and yoga since 1986 and teaching their integrated practice since 1997. Her essays on the intersection of spiritual practice with daily life have been widely published, appearing in the New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Yoga Journal, Tricycle, and the Shambhala Sun. A former editor at both Yoga Journal and Tricycle, she has presented at and directed multiple conferences at Kripalu, including "Yoga and Buddhism" and "The Yoga of Parenting." Since 2000 she has taught yoga and meditation on over fifty retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she is the codirector of the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training Program.